RNS510 Battery Drain

[nheav]

Hi Folks,

Apologies for a similar thread, but i've gone through some of the similar issues and from what I can see i've a slightly different issue.

I've had issues with my RNS 510 for a while now and about a month ago brought it to get repaired.
I was told it needed a new hard drive, so I got this done and thought it would be all sorted.
This did fix some of the issues (it had previously been constantly rebooting and often not turning on at all) however it still didn't connect with the steering wheel controls, the ignition or the natnav compass beside the clock on the dash display.
All of these had worked fine until about 12-18 months ago when they started to go intermittently.

However, my biggest issue since getting it back is that it now seems to be causing some battery drain. I got a couple of flat batteries about 1 week after getting it back, went and got a new battery but have had to jump that a good few times in the last 3-4 weeks too.

I have sent it to be checked out and was told there was a Canbus(??) issue, but I then brought it to a VW dealer who said that it was fine and they didn't really know what was wrong with it.

Does anyone have any suggestions?
I was only thinking yesterday that maybe there's an outside chance a FW upgrade might help?
However I don't know a huge amount about them, so hoping there will be some experts on here!

Any ideas welcome!

Thanks very much,

N

[pudding]

What revision is your RNS510?  I had an ancient one (revision A) which I ended up throwing in the bin after experiencing similar issues.

There's a few ways to solve the battery drain:

1) There's a fuse swap or something details on this forum which requires a minor wiring change.  I don't think it's an elegant solution, but it works for most people.

2) Get a newer RNS510. There's an Ebay seller of them who does an internal mod to fix the battery drain.  I got a revision Q which has that done and I've left the car at Gatwick for 2 weeks with zero battery drain.

3) Fit a Polar FIS Advanced.  It also modifies the CAN signal to not drain the battery, plus you get a lot of other features and tricks with it.

4) Fit a newer gateway.  The Battery drain issue seems to affect revision K and older gateways.

Have you got VCDS?  You can get the revision details of both the stereo and the gateway using that, otherwise it's pull them out and check the stickers.

As for the compass not showing on the MFD, again, VCDS required here.  From memory, you need to check the Satnav is enabled in the gateway features list.  It's a big list of items connected to the gateway, with the toggle being fitted, or not fitted.  Sometimes the gateway can lose it's memory, or get itself in a pickle and you may need to retick it.  Could also be why the steering wheel buttons aren't working.

Don't know anything about steering wheel controls as mine doesn't have them.  I like a simple life 

[nheav]

Thanks for your reply!

My issue is that I am planning on selling the car, so I don't want to spend a fortune on it.

How can I find out the revision of the unit? Is that info in the hidden menu?
I also remember seeing something before where the buttons are slightly different on the different revs, would you know anything about this?

Would you think a FW update would be of any benefit at all?

[vwpete91]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/272526849091 does this radio in the link cause battery drain if I remove my rcd300 as it's cheap and would be a good upgrade if it doesn't drain my battery


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[nheav]

Just checked out the revision in the hidden menu. Has this info.....

HW. version - H02
SW version - 4120.

This mean anything or suggest anything relating to the problems I'm having to anyone?

[pudding]

Have a look at this page.  There's a firmware update for fixing battery drains on there - http://www.my-gti.com/3374/volkswagen-rns-510-firmware-upgrade-and-information

[nheav]

Ok,

Thanks very much.
I will check it out!!